Man impersonating student to board flight to Canada held at Delhi airport

 A 23-year-old man's desire to fly to Canada for a so called better life and job opportunities was cut short after he was caught by the immigration officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on suspicion of impersonation and handed over to police, officials said on Sunday.

Mehtab Singh, who hails from Rawana Ghasi village in Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh, was travelling on the passport and student visa of someone else, police said, adding he has been arrested and taken into two-day police remand for further investigation.

Police said Singh was caught travelling on the original passport and student visa of one Aaditya Singh, a resident of Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttarakhand.

The incident took place on the intervening night of September 17-18 when Singh was intercepted at Terminal-3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport here while he intended to depart to Toronto, Canada.

But during checking, the immigration officials found his activities suspicious and on cross-checking, his appearance did not exactly match with the photo on the original passport as shown by him, a senior police officer said.

Though Singh looked similar to the man whose photo appeared on the passport with the kind of mustache and beard, but when the officials asked him to remove his face mask, he was caught and handed over to the police on suspicion of impersonation. On the complaint received from the immigration officials, Deputy Commissioner of olice (IGI Airport) Rajeev Ranjan said a case was registered under section 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 120 B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and and relevant sections.

The officer said the accused was arrested during the course of investigation for impersonating as someone else by travelling on his passport and student visa. During interrogation, initially Singh did not disclose his real identity and claimed he was going to Canada to pursue his further studies but when confronted with passport and other documents, he disclosed his real identity as Mehtab Singh and revealed that he intended to go abroad in search of a better life and job opportunities, an investigating officer said.

When asked about his source of documents, Singh disclosed that while pursuing his final year course in Bachelor of Arts from a university in Uttarakhand, he came in contact with an agent named Balwant Singh who promised to send him abroad illegally, the officer said.

The accused fixed a deal with Balwant who arranged him an original passport and student visa in the name of one Aaditya Singh, who is a resident of Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand, he added. As per their deal, accused Singh was supposed to give Rs 20 lakh to the agent after he landed in Canada, the officer said Police said the accused has been taken in two days police remand and will be further interrogated to verify and ascertain the claims made by him.

Further investigation is underway and the passports and other documents being carried by the accused have been seized, they said.

The agent -- Balwant Singh -- has been absconding, police said, adding efforts are being made to trace him. Last year in September, a 32-year-old Gujarati man was arrested after he was caught by CISF personnel at the Delhi airport for allegedly impersonating an octogenarian passenger by issuing a fake passport. Also in September last year, a 68-year-old man disguised as an octogenarian was caught at the Delhi airport after he landed from Hong Kong with a fake passport.

Gurdip Singh, a resident of Moga in Punjab, had used the fake passport and a fake name -- Karnail Singh -- to get the Permanent Residence ID of Hong Kong.